After Shirou learned that Rudeus was a special student, he went straight to the special students' classroom.
According to Headmaster Ginus's description, the number of special students at the moment is quite small, only six in total, and some of them are troublemakers.
The headmaster specifically told Shirou to be careful and not get into conflicts with them.
Shirou naturally wouldn't start any trouble, but that was only if these special students didn't come looking for him.
Shirou arrived at the corner of the three school buildings next to each other, a classroom located at the deepest part of the third floor of the magic university's teaching building. In front of the classroom, a line was drawn on the ground, indicating that the front was the special students' classroom.
It was basically like being isolated.
This made Shirou more clearly aware of the situation of the special students in this school.
Arriving at the door of the special students' classroom, Shirou knocked on the door, but received no response. Helpless, he could only open the door himself and saw the scene inside the classroom.
The classroom environment presented a scene that felt familiar to Shirou. Apart from some decorations unique to this world, the entire classroom environment was like the school classroom from Shirou's previous life. There was not only a new blackboard, equipment similar to a podium and lectern, but also rows of wooden desks and chairs.
In contrast to the large space, there were only four people in the seats.
First of all, in the front row, there was a young man who was reading and writing, probably studying on his own. His dark brown hair, long enough to cover his eyes, was impressive.
After Shirou opened the classroom door, he glanced over here, then immediately turned his gaze back to the book as if losing interest.
Deep inside the classroom, in the innermost window seats, sat two girls, both beast people.
One of the dog-eared girls was gnawing on what seemed to be a chewy bone-in piece of meat, while looking at Shirou with suspicious eyes.
The other cat-eared girl had her feet up on the desk, her hands clasped behind her head, leaning back casually, and glared over impolitely.
Seeing this scene, Shirou recalled the beastman village of Doldia he had passed through in the Milis continent.
Thinking back, the village chief of the beastman village, Gustav, said that his daughter was studying at the magic university.
Could it be such a coincidence?
Just as Shirou was thinking this, he noticed the cat-eared beastgirl in the distance glare at him, deliberately provoking. Although Shirou didn't feel fear, he did sense hostility to some extent.
Shirou hesitated, but because of the headmaster's reminder, he wouldn't directly get into a conflict with her, trying his best to ignore her.
Then, there was the last special student.
Shirou was stunned when he saw him, showing a surprised expression.
Because if his memory was correct, the other person should be the prince and god-child of the Shirone Kingdom, a young man named Zanoba.
Zanoba was also very surprised when he saw Shirou, and said, "Oh, you're the Swordsman who was in our kingdom before... You, you're here to fight me?"
Seeing Zanoba tremble as if he immediately recalled the scene of their previous battle, Shirou decisively shook his head and denied, "Of course not, I'm just here to find someone."
"Find someone?"
Hearing that Shirou wasn't there to fight, Zanoba immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
He then showed a friendly smile and said, "Although I don't know if I can help, I'll try my best."
"Thank you."
Zanoba's performance was very cooperative, but it was hard to say whether he was friendly by nature or simply afraid of Shirou's strength, so he was showing a friendly attitude.
In any case, Shirou quickly got in touch with Zanoba.
Shirou first learned why Zanoba was here. The reason was that he had been exiled to the Ranoa Magic Academy by the king of the Shirone Kingdom.
On the surface, he was here in the name of studying abroad.
Originally, Zanoba, who couldn't use magic at all, wasn't qualified to enter the school, but because there was a research institution for curses and blessings in the magic guild, the god-child naturally became a valuable existence and the best sample. Based on this reason, the magic university accepted Zanoba as a special student.
Shirou wanted to directly ask Zanoba if he knew Rudeus, but suddenly heard the sound of something heavy falling to the ground.
Looking in the direction of the sound, Shirou saw the cat-eared beastgirl in the distance, as if deliberately making noise, put one of her feet, which had been propped up on the desk, down.
"I really can't stand it, meow."
The girl spoke with a unique verbal tic of the Doldia tribe, which made Shirou not feel any delinquent aura, but she did indeed show a fierce look, coldly saying to him, "Hey, Zanoba, what are you going on about?"
Hearing the cat-eared girl's words, Zanoba seemed very frightened.
As the dignified god-child, he respectfully said to the cat-eared girl, "Miss Linia, this one is someone I knew before coming to the academy..."
"I'm not asking you about that, meow."
The cat-eared girl seemed very unhappy as she raised her foot and slammed it hard on the desk, "Hey, Zanoba, do you even know what's going on, meow? Do you understand what I'm saying? Answer me!"
"..."
Zanoba's expression turned stiff.
Shirou had seen similar expressions before, when he was in school before he was transported and saw some students in the class being bullied.
Although Shirou was always willing to step in and stop the bullies, the bullied people were not saved, and were still in a bad situation.
Shirou later even found that whenever he helped, the bullied people would fall into even more miserable situations, suffering more intense revenge from the bullies.
It wasn't until much later that Shirou realized the best way to solve the problem was to teach the bullied people the skills to fight back.
Only when the bullied people themselves had the will to resist could the phenomenon of bullying be solved.
Of course, those were all things that happened in Shirou's past.
He didn't expect that he would encounter bullying in the magic university in this world, and even more so that the person being bullied was Zanoba, the god-child.
With Zanoba's strength, wasn't he a match for this beastgirl?
While Shirou was thinking, Zanoba had already walked meekly to the beastgirl and was scolded in the face, then waved his hand.
After Zanoba returned, he said to Shirou with a bitter face, "Well, Miss Linia wants me to call you over."
"Zanoba, are you okay?"
"Y-yes, I'm okay..."
Although Zanoba responded like that, his expression didn't look okay at all.
Considering that Headmaster Ginus didn't want him to have conflicts with the special students, Shirou didn't ask too much for the time being, and just quietly obeyed.
Shirou came to the front of the beastgirl named Linia.
One cat-eared, one dog-eared, both beastgirls glared at Shirou with fierce eyes, the kind that would make ordinary students' legs tremble.
But this naturally wouldn't have any effect on Shirou.
He naturally said, "Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Emiya."
After coming to the magic university, Shirou had been calling himself Emiya, without revealing his original identity.
The two beastgirls obviously showed dissatisfaction with his attitude.
But they didn't directly get angry.
The cat-eared girl, Linia, said arrogantly, "My name is Linia Dedoldia, I'm a fifth-year, meow. Don't look at me like this, I'm the daughter of Gustav, the warrior chief of Doldia Village in the great forest, meow. If you dare offend me, you'll be in trouble, meow."
Although some of the words were very fierce, when the verbal tic of "meow" was added to the end of each sentence, it didn't create any tension.
And Shirou confirmed that Linia was indeed Gustav's daughter.
He therefore said familiarly, "I see, I once passed by Doldia Village and met your father. During the rainy season, I was grateful that he provided a house for me to stay in."
"Ah... oh... is that so... you... you know my dad?"
Linia looked like she was showing off outside, but then her parent showed up. She looked very stiff.
Seeing this, the dog-eared girl immediately stood up to support her and said, "Just because you've been to the village doesn't mean you can try to get close... Fack's what I say."
"..."
Another strange verbal tic.
Shirou was gradually getting used to it and quietly said, "May I ask your name?"
"My name is Pursena, I'm pretty much like Linia, I say."
"I see."
"Don't even think about getting close to me, you stinky human, get lost, I say!"
Pursena showed an aura that was even more difficult to approach than Linia.
Shirou therefore didn't say anything more and looked at Linia, saying, "So, what did you two call me over for?"
"Hmph, we're the bosses of this class, it's against the rules for an outsider like you to come here without saying hello to us, meow."
Linia came back to her senses and showed an arrogant aura again.
"Alright."
Shirou understood that these two girls were typical class bullies and asked directly, "I actually came to the special class to find someone."
"Find someone?"
"Yes, he's my younger brother, named Rudeus Greyrat."
"..."
Linia and Pursena originally looked like they weren't interested in Shirou's request, but after hearing Rudeus's name, they inexplicably showed a hint of stiffness.
Although it was a very subtle reaction, it was still noticed by Shirou.
He therefore directly asked, "Do you know Rudeus?"
"N-no, we don't know him."
Linia denied immediately, but because the performance was too unnatural, it was easy to see through.
Shirou wanted to ask further, but he didn't expect the brown-haired boy sitting in his seat in the distance to suddenly stand up and say, "You said you're Rudeus's older brother?"
"Yes."
Shirou didn't describe too much and just quietly nodded.
And after the brown-haired boy examined him, he took the initiative to say, "I'm Cliff Grimoire, a magic genius."
Shirou was inexplicably familiar with the surname Grimoire.
He actually called himself a magic genius?
The overly confident attitude made Shirou hesitate.
And Cliff calmly said, "Although I'm only fourteen years old, I've already learned the upper-level of all attributes of attack magic, and the upper-level of healing, detoxification, and godstrike magic. Barrier magic is still the beginner level, but it will soon rise to the intermediate level."
"Very impressive."
Shirou sincerely praised him.
Because his own magic was completely inferior to Cliff's. So far, only earth magic and fire magic had reached the intermediate level.
Cliff was so young, yet he had such strength, which made Shirou even think of Gino of the Holy Land of Swords. Both of them were true geniuses.
And his reaction made Cliff unhappy, and he couldn't help but mutter, "That annoying reaction. So you really are that Rudeus's older brother."
"Why do you say that?"
"Praising on the surface, but actually not taking it to heart. Your attitude is exactly the same as that Rudeus."
"This..."
He didn't expect Cliff to be able to make such a judgment. Shirou was slightly surprised, but he still focused on the main point and said, "So you know Rudeus?"
"Pretty much. I entered the school at about the same time as him."
Cliff said quietly, seeming very unhappy, "That guy is different from me. He's not someone who can be described as a genius. But it's because his talent is too high that he ended up in that situation. He deserves it."
"That situation? What happened to Rudeus?"
"I can't say the specifics. You'll know when you go see him."
"This..."
Hearing Cliff's words, Shirou felt nervous, worried that Rudeus had encountered some danger.
Cliff didn't care too much and quietly led Shirou out of the special class and all the way to the student dorm of the magic university.
The regular students of the magic university lived in the student dorms, and each student had their own room.
Cliff led Shirou to the top floor of the student dorms and all the way to the room at the deepest part of the hall.
He first tried to open the door, but found that it didn't budge. So he said to Shirou with a helpless face, "It seems like he's still the same as before. He doesn't want to see anyone."
"He? Is Rudeus here?"
"Yes. You can only see him if you can open the door."
Hearing Cliff's words, Shirou fell silent.
After so long, he had finally found his family. If he gave up here, it would be unacceptable to Shirou.
"Cliff, move aside."
Facing such an ordinary door, Shirou didn't have any extra thoughts and directly chose to break it open with force.
He raised his foot and kicked the door.
With the support of Battle Aura and Enhancement Magic, the power of his kick was comparable to an A-level magical beast, scaring Cliff, who couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
On the other side, Shirou successfully kicked the door open with one kick.
The room was pitch black, with messy debris and garbage everywhere.
Shirou frowned instinctively at the terrible sight.
He was about to look for Rudeus when he saw a flash of light flying from a distance in the next second—
"Chantless magic?"
The moment he saw the flash of light, Shirou dodged to the right and successfully avoided the flying rock.
This seemed to have angered the figure in the distance. More rocks came flying from inside the room like a flood, causing Cliff to show a panicked expression.
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